The ghost of CarGo

Joe can't seem to get away from it.

You know what I'm talking about. This. Joe traded Carlos Gonzalez to Andy, his first-round playoff opponent, on July 7.

At the time Gonzalez was hitting .303 with 15 homers, 55 RBIs and a .845 OPS (in 72 games). Since the trade, however, "CarGo" is hitting .388 with 17 homers, 45 RBIs and a ridiculous 1.193 OPS (in 54 games).


Joe has heard the talk about how Gonzalez is undeniably a keeper now. He probably wasn't beforehand. But everywhere Joe goes, he can't seem to get away from hearing Gonzalez's name.

Earlier this week, Joe was commuting home from work and listening to the radio, when a sports talk program started discussing National League MVPs.

"And, sure enough, they start talking about Carlos Gonzalez," a bitter Joe said.

If Gonzalez, who is not just an MVP possibility, but a Triple Crown threat, keeps this up the next few years, this will go down as one of the worst trades in league history.

If Andy somehow wins the league this year and has success in the future, it will be featured in the same category as Dave's awful trade of Prince Fielder to Bob for Erik Bedard.

Currently, Gonzalez is one of the players who has helped Andy jump out to a whopping 16-2 lead more than halfway through the playoff matchup. Even a Shinjay might not help Joe this time.

A CarGo sure could have, though...
Read more!

Playoff preview: (4) Andy vs. (5) Joe

Records: Andy 13-9, Joe 11-10-1
Line: Andy -1.5
Season series: Tied 1-1 (Week 2: Andy 10-8, Week 12: Joe 13-4)
Career playoff records: Andy 0-2, Joe 4-1
All-time head-to-head: Joe 5-3
Playoffs head-to-head: Joe 1-0
Last playoff appearance: Andy 2009, Joe 2009


Hitting
Andy's offense is very streaky - much like Ryan Howard. There's weeks where he will hit for .330 and others he will barely eclipse .200. Joe's, lately, has been very hot, led by Mark Teixeira. Joe has slightly more power, but Andy has slightly more contact.
Advantage: Even

Pitching
This should be an interesting matchup because both managers have a whole bunch of two-start pitchers. So by the weekend, a lot of innings will have been logged. Joe's pitching has been bad all year, but he does have Tommy Hanson going twice. And, of course, Andy and Joe made that big trade that sent Carlos Gonzalez and Casey McGehee to the Punch and Hanson and Alex Gonzalez to the Peddlers.
Advantage: Andy

Managing
Already some interesting managing going on, with Joe benching A.J. Burnett on the first day. Joe's playoff record speaks for itself and he knows how to bring it when the stakes get higher. Andy is feeling the monkey on his back of just trying to make it out of the first round of the playoffs.
Advantage: Joe

Prediction
A back-and-forth matchup all week that won't be decided until Sunday. Joe pulls out the win, 12-8.
Read more!

Breaking down the trade: Andy's side

After two months of no trades, we get two in two weeks. In this one, Joe sends Carlos Gonzalez and Casey McGehee to Andy for Tommy Hanson and Alex Gonzalez.

Now, we look at this from Andy's side.

After an 8-2 start with virtually zero injuries all season, it has started to crumble for Andy.

He's on a three-game losing streak - soon to be four - and missing a boatload of talent that is on the disabled list. Chase Utley, Jason Heyward, Yovani Gallardo, Carlos Beltran, Dallas Braden (who was cut), and Kevin Youkilis (who just got injured but is not on the DL).


This might have forced Andy's hand to make a move. He needed a second baseman, which he got in McGehee. But more importantly, he acquired Gonzalez.

"I've been trying to get him for about two months now," Andy said. "I made a major mistake not taking him in the draft."

Andy gave up his second-round draft pick in Hanson, who I'm sure he expected to be a keeper by year's end when he drafted him so high. But with how well Matt Cain and Jered Weaver have pitched, Andy had some flexibility.

Hanson was the odd-man out.

"At this point, I probably wasn't going to keep him so I wanted to improve my hitting," Andy said. "That's not to say he won't turn into a star, but for this year, I needed to improve my hitting. I'll worry about next year during the offseason."

After the trade was announced, Gonzalez homered in his next at-bat and McGehee singled. Could it be a sign?

Gonzalez instantly upgrades his outfield, and with the return of Beltran and Heyward after the All-Star break, Andy gets some much-needed depth that he hasn't had the past month.

He does, however, take a hit at shortstop by trading Gonzalez. Now he's left with playing Miguel Tejada every day.

"I just hope Tejada gets traded these next two weeks," Andy said. "I'm not happy about being stuck with him, but I had to give up something to get something."

Read more!

Breaking down the trade: Joe's side

After two months of no trades, we get two in two weeks. In this one, Joe sends Carlos Gonzalez and Casey McGehee to Andy for Tommy Hanson and Alex Gonzalez.

First, we look at this from Joe's side.

He is dead last in the league in ERA and WHIP, with several underperforming pitchers in A.J. Burnett, Matt Garza and Dan Haren. Could Hanson be thrown in there by season's end? Possibly.

But, as always, we also have to look at this from a long-term thought process. And Hanson gives Joe a viable keeper option if Haren continues to struggle or if he wants to keep two pitchers.


Joe called his reasoning "simple."

"I need pitching and after long debates and serious talks with several teams in the league, this transaction was the best and most beneficial for the Peddlers," he said. "Hanson is a young pitcher with keeper-like stuff, and pitching has been the weakest point of The Peddlers."

Joe gave up a couple nice young players, especially Carlos Gonzalez, who is hitting .300 with 15 homers. But he did manage to improve the shortstop position with Alex Gonzalez, certainly an upgrade over Christian Guzman.

"Cole Miners was the catalyst and has forced other managers to make moves in order to compete," Joe said. "It was tough giving up both solid hitters. Especially Gonzalez, but I feel that Hanson is worth it."

Just last week, Joe voiced his concern over the rest of the league's inability to make a move with him.

At least one manager complained after the fact that his offer for one of Joe's outfielders was better than what Andy offered.

After seeing Joe make this trade instead of another one, was it a result of frustration with other managers not being good-enough trading partners?

"Part of it was," Joe said. "I wanted to start something. Motion creates emotion in my business. It was the only way to force hands and to light a fire under some managers' asses. As we can see here, even though Andy and I went back and forth for several weeks regarding trades, they came to an agreement that benefited both teams. It was the best deal the teams could make."

Read more!

Angry Joe goes on tirade

Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's the financial service industry. Maybe it's the average team.

Whatever it is, Joe is angry. And he wants you to know about it.

He's angry about the commissioner, he's angry about other managers, and he's angry about the league.

"This league is not in good standing," Joe said during a 16-minute phone call to the commissioner's office Friday night. "There are too many rules that are not distinguished, and there are too many managers who try to rip people off."


Joe didn't exactly elaborate, although it sounds like he's frustrated by his lack of ability to complete a trade. Stuck with the league's worst pitching staff, Joe desperately has been trying to swap some hitting for pitching. Two weeks ago, he had a verbal preliminary agreement in place with Andy, who decided at the last minute to re-neg on the trade.

"Alex Rios is the 13th best player, according to Yahoo!, yet managers are only willing to trade 90-plus ranked pitching," Joe said. "It's hard for teams to work out deals."

I'm sorry, Joe, I didn't know trading was supposed to be an easy thing in a keeper league. We all feel so sorry for you.

Joe singled out a specific trade offer - Carlos Gonzalez for Ted Lilly - that had him furious.

"It's bs," he said. "Certain managers tend to think that pitching outweighs hitting in this league and they don't want to be fair about asking prices, and thus trades don't get done."

As for the commissioner and Joe's anger toward him?

"The blog has been boring," Joe said. "I wanted you to do a story on how you're 1-11 when you pick my games. Why won't you write about that? I'm also insulted that you didn't include my team in the poll question (about who will win the Tiger Woods division) last week. If we win this week, we're a game out of first place. The Peddlers and Snooki Punch are heated rivals now because of that."

Whether he's looking for attention or has a different agenda, Joe's point has been made. Will things change?
Read more!

Salary Showcase: Smutt Peddlers 5

Welcome to the blog's new feature, the Salary Showcase. Here, you will get a brief but informative breakdown of each team's salary.

Now, we get to see who is overachieving, underachieving, and who is getting the most bang for their buck. Unsuccessful managers with a high salary team are sure to be feeling the heat from their fan base.

I am going based off the current roster, not the drafted roster. Big ups to Chris for the idea and Shea for the headline.


Smutt Peddlers 5
Manager: Joe
2010 salary: $218,166,000
Hitting salary: $123,545,000
Pitching salary: $94,621,000
Highest-paid hitter: Mark Teixeira ($20,625,000)
Highest-paid pitcher: Barry Zito ($18,500,000)
Lowest-paid hitter: Carlos Gonzalez ($406,000)
Lowest-paid pitcher: Rick Porcello ($1,920,000)
Read more!